Siege of Rimini (1500)

The Siege of Rimini (1500) was a siege that occurred during Cesare Borgia's campaigns in the Romagna region of northern Italy.

History
In 1500, Cesare Borgia's lieutenant Astorre III Manfredi informed Borgia that Pandolfo IV Malatesta had offered to restore him to the throne of Faenza with military support; Manfredi revealed this plot to Borgia because he knew that Malatesta was greedy and evil. Shortly after, the Prefect of Rimini, Piero della Monte, arrived at Borgia's camp and pleaded with him to assist the people of Rimini in overthrowing the greedy Malatesta family; two years before, a rebellion against the Malatesta had been crushed. Borgia, who had already incurred the wrath of Pandolfo by kidnapping his daughter, Dorotea Malatesta (who had also just given birth to his daughter, Lucrezia), decided to fool Pandolfo by telling him that he was going to besiege Cervia, to the north of Rimini. This allowed for him to bring his army towards Rimini, and he intended to wait for Gaston de Foix's army to arrive before attacking Rimini.

However, Dorotea Malatesta and her daughter disappeared while Cesare Borgia was back in Rome to assist his sister Lucrezia with marrying Alfonso d'Este, and Borgia returned to the camp to find out this bad news. He then decided to meet Pandolfo in person, and he warned him that the Castel Sismondo was surrounded. A disrespectful Pandolfo told Borgia that he had paid the tithes to the church and granted Borgia military access, sarcastically asking if capturing Rimini was how Borgia would repay him. However, Borgia instead displayed the true reward: 20,000 ducats for Rimini's cannon, munitions, and Malatesta's solemn pledge to leave Rimini, never to return. He also pointed out that he had ordered for Malatesta's sons to be arrested after they left the meeting, forcing Malatesta to accept exile. Dorotea was also given to Cesare, but Dorotea wanted to join her father in exile rather than continue a lustful (yet loveless) relationship with Cesare. Cesare's capture of Rimini was poorly received among the College of Cardinals, who opposed his duplicity and his assault on Rimini, which was supposedly already loyal to the Papacy. The Papacy would send Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to find the legal grounds for Rimini's capture, legitimizing its capture.